Commentary and analysis to persuade people to become socialist and to act for themselves, organizing democratically and without leaders, to bring about a world of common ownership and free access. We are solely concerned with building a movement of socialists for socialism. We are not reformists with a programme of policies to patch up capitalism.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Inequality leads to Homicides

South Africa has one of the highest levels of economic
inequality and is among the most violent countries. The question is whether
these are causally related. Evidence from the Centre for the Study of Violence
and Reconciliation seems to prove they are. Examining a large sample of
homicides, the centre found the vast majority were the result of
"arguments that got out of hand", supporting the idea that anger and
frustration are very close to the surface for many South Africans who, being
poorer, feel marginalised and disrespected.

Note that it is not a matter of just being poor, unpleasant
though this might be. Poor but more equal societies are generally not violent.
But being poor in a context where others are rich, especially when wealth is
flaunted as it is in South Africa, can promote anger and violence. Districts
with big differences in expenditure between households had higher homicide
rates, and vice versa.